The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
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Zoning for Crook County By Crook County residents have vigorously opposed rural zoning in the past but, with the influx of several subdivisions in recent years and no legal avenue to control developers, some appear to have changed their view. Throughout January, hired consultant for planning and zoning, Jayna Watson, has been addressing ranchers and other county citizens who are and will be most impacted by the slow flood of new neighbors as well as this possible change in how officials may...
Crook County Sheriff Jeff Hodge attended last week's meeting of the Pine Haven Council to address questions and concerns previously shared with Deputy Cody Lenz regarding the possibility of contracting with the sheriff's department ordinance enforcement and the rather more pressing issue of discharging firearms in town. Lernz was able to answer in part but, after discussing the matter with his superior, the sheriff wanted to speak to the council and answer in more depth. The first topic was the...
Moorcroft is moving forward with the next phase of the bike/walking path through town as the council examines the anticipated route along North Big Horn Avenue, from Crook Street to Goshen east to Belle Fourche Avenue and south to reconnect with Crook. The aim is to encourage people to use and enjoy the wider and safer pathway to traverse town throughout the year. There are challenges, though, with several areas of significant elevation and steps built into the walkway on both the east and west...
The Pine Haven Town Council recently discussed the possible advantage to hydro-seeding Harwood Baseball field. The site was hydro-seeded in its infancy, but the cost is significant. According to Councilman Rob Norton, he and Public Works Director Sean Glasser had discussed this issue and Norton offered their suggestions, "I don't know that we need to hydroseed, we might just over seed, spray it with fertilizer, kill the weeds off and see if it can regenerate." He noted that the director had...
Among the four main subjects following the town into 2024 is the final closure of Moorcroft's landfill and progress was recently the subject of discussion at a workshop ending 2023. At this time, the dead animal, burn trench and the C&D pit are the only active waste points available to the public. HDR Engineering's Heath Turbiville had previously ascertained from the council their interest in retaining the construction dump site with the closure of the rest of the landfill. "We've been thinking...
Moorcroft’s splashpad has been an anticipated addition to the town’s summertime recreation for several years, waiting on grant possibilities as the town works diligently on the more pressing issues of outdated and failing infrastructure. Now, with the Powder River Water Project II moving forward, so too is the Splash Park Project. Since the beginning, the plan has been to have the feature installed in Noonan Park, the town’s oldest square. Unfortunately, after testing the planned site, Advanced Geo-Tech Solutions found the ground to be unsta...
Residents of the Glen Vista subdivision on Vista Grande Drive, who have never been connected to municipal sewer, are specifically invited to a public hearing on January 9, at 7 p.m. At the hearing, the council will discuss the Vista Grande Sanitary Sewer Extension Local Improvement District in which they will be participating to pay their portion, equaling $381,652. Mayor Karla Brandenburg explains, “We’ve got a[n ARPA] grant to connect them to our sewer system so we have to form a sewer district and the residents will be paying the fee on tha...
Mayor Karla Brandenburg invited her fellow council to step forward to honor guest Linda Lang at last week's meeting of the governing body for the philanthropist's donation of more than 20 trees to be planted around the circumference of the cemetery. "They were all brought in by a truck and quite a few town people went up there and helped put them in," she said. As Lang stood with her neighbors, the mayor presented a carved tree created by Councilwoman Suzette Edwards, "out of pine from Pine...
Moorcroft Interfaith Community (MIC) members Monte Reichenberg and Randy Blakeman attended last week’s meeting of the Moorcroft Council to answer any questions and listen to the restrictions under which the title to two lots within the Moorcroft Town Center (MTC) property (playground area) will be sold to their organization. At the preceding workshop, the question of a purchase agreement was considered by all to be the best option with a restricted title. With the motion to grant the restricted title on the floor, Town Attorney Pat Carpenter s...
A Pine Haven resident recently called Clerk/Treasurer Tammie McGovern to ask if they are allowed to discharge firearms within town limits without explanation, leading to questions of law and enforcement. With no town ordinance in place covering said situation, McGovern contacted the Crook County Sheriff’s Department. “We were told by Ed Robinson that there is no Wyoming State statute and no county ordinance; unless the town itself has an ordinance and I looked through state statutes and I couldn’t find anything [either],” she said. Mayor K...
Pine Haven’s council heard Heath Turbiville of HDR Engineering at Tuesday morning’s workshop as he explained the town’s current position on the Boe Drive Project. This project involves the installation of hydrants and a waterline along the roadway. HDR recently received comments from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) regarding the agency’s review of the design previously provided by the engineering firm, of which there were “very few and very simple”. HDR responded with a council approved answer by the end of last week. The enginee...
After "R" Place owner Brenda Gideon and The Reservoir owners Bill and Misty Brown asked for help from the town in banning smoking within their facilities, Mayor Karla Brandenburg and Councilwoman Emily Smith met with them. "In the beginning," Smith later spoke of their first impressions, "when we did meet with them, both owners were in favor of it and the fact of us working together with them and doing an ordinance... was agreed upon. In our discussion, we were saying [that] 'it is our...
Moorcroft's council has approached Crook County School District, asking if they might be interested in allowing the town to take custody of the mound in the center of the U-shaped parking area on the east side of South Little Horn Avenue, across from the MTC. Mayor Ben Glenn recently spoke on the ongoing endeavor, "Cheryl Schneider was the one who came up with the idea and we visited about it for about a year and a half. She's done all the legwork, talked to the school board, Mark Broderson and...
After dealing with a number of issues regarding the proper surveying and engineering of planned structures within town limits, Pine Haven's council, in association with the planning and zoning committee is refining verbiage on building applications. In the last month, two problems have faced the committee; first, a builder has approached them to argue a request from the municipal building inspector for an engineer's survey due to the lack of this request in writing when the application is provid...
Moorcroft has had to crack down in recent years on citizens who do not observe the municipal laws on long term parking on public streets and alleys. After facing a related problem regarding drivers leaving their vehicles blocking access to private and business drives, Moorcroft Chief of Police Bill Briant noted, “In researching the ordinance, we found that we didn’t have anything to cover that, so we just put that [sentence]in to allow us enforcement if we had to. It is 12-3-01, subsection e – ‘It shall be unlawful for any person to park, l...
The telemetry program that Moorcroft's Public Works Department uses to monitor and manage the five active wells on which the town depends for water has become outdated and no longer works effectively, necessitating repeated troubleshooting to mitigate problems within the system. According to department director Cory Allison, "It's slow...and getting glitches." When Moorcroft residents run water in their homes, these five wells including the Maddison and four smaller wells work inconspicuously...
With the approval of their Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grant application for $221,700, Pine Haven is moving forward with the next phase of the bike/walking path, which is the completion of the overall project design including land surveys, acquiring easements where necessary and addressing drainage issues. The town is matching the grant funding with $23,3000, making a total of $245,000. The next project for which Pine Haven may apply will be actual development of the succeeding portion of the path and, although, the arrangement...
All Conference medals and certificates held proudly by Oliver Gorsuch, First Team; Chaz Dewey, Second Team; Wyatt Allred, First Team; and Braydenn Terry, who wrapped up the season with All Conference in First Team, an award for Good Sportsmanship at the Pine Bluffs game and All State. Terry later said of the awards he had received, "I set myself to a high standard and high goals so I was hoping I'd do good this year, I was hoping I'd get All Conference, but I definitely was not expecting All...
Long-time Pine Haven resident and former mayor Dan Blakeman, who returned to the town's council when he was appointed several months ago to replace Kristy Speed, resigned at last week's meeting of the governing body. Blakeman presented his resignation in person with a heartfelt speech, saying in part, "Dawn and I have sold our home... we are moving... I've been on this council for over 20 years... It's truly been an honor to serve this little town; I've watched it grow from 101 people to what...
After ascertaining the progress of the insurance network earlier this month, Pine Haven’s governing body has approved moving forward with setting the ambulance fee schedule as follows: $1000 per transit and $10 per mile between incident and medical facility. Pine Haven Mayor Karla Brandenburg said of these amounts, “We are way under what [people] are being charged everywhere else.” The average cost for the service in surrounding municipalities is $1200-$2000 per transit and approximately $30 per mile, according to Jane Merchant, who is setting...
The Moorcroft Volunteer Fire Department was recently given the opportunity to train for interior rescue scenarios, using an abandoned house north of town. According to Moorcroft Volunteer Fire Chief Jeff Holberg, "The property is in the Henderson Subdivision and is going to be torn down. The new owner was gracious enough to allow us to go in and practice." Because the two departments work so often together on the same scenes, Moorcroft invited Pine Haven to participate in this exercise. Pine...
Hosted by the Over the Hill Gang, approximately 25 local veterans and their families, attended the annual program and lunch at the Pine Haven Community Center last Wednesday to be honored for their sacrifice with live music from the Moorcroft School Choir, who recognized the theme for each branch and the American Legion Honor Guard, whose member Clarence Berry also stood as Master of Ceremonies. Among other aspects, the program included practical discussion about the benefits available to these...
With the recent approval of ARPA funding from the State Land and Investment Board (SLIB) for the full requested amount of $800,000, Mayor Ben Glenn was commended by Councilman Dale Petersen at last week’s meeting for “his articulate speech in front of the SLIB. He did a nice job of representing the town”. Moorcroft’s engineer, Heath Turbiville of HDR Engineering, has assured town overseers that design for the entire project is nearing completion and the applicable portion will be ready for approval by the Department of Environmental Quality...
“Sundance is charging us now…so they’ve changed their way of doing things,” Pine Haven Mayor Karla Brandenburg said at a recent workshop regarding the changing circumstances facing Pine Haven’s Emergency Medical Services, including the ambulance ride. The council has been working on a method of recovering at least a portion of these rising costs that will not affect patients who use the service. The billing process the town plans to adopt will bill insurance, but citizens will not receive any kind of bill for their copay. Jane Merchant,...
On Sunday, November 5, at approximately 3 a.m. a car traveling eastbound on highway 14/16 jumped the southside curb. The Mercury went through a private yard fence before coming to rest against the resistance of the rear deck of the home. Though present, there were no injuries incurred by the residents. Fire, police and EMS were dispatched to the scene. Moorcroft Police Chief Bill Bryant is unable to provide further details at this time as the incident is still under investigation. “We don’t have a whole lot of information right now; we...
